Employers probably took on fewer workers in October, illustrating the “frustratingly slow” recovery that led Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke to say the U.S. central bank may need to take additional action, economists said before a report today.
Payrolls climbed by 95,000 following a 103,000 September increase, according to the median forecast of 91 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The jobless rate was 9.1 percent for a fourth consecutive month, the figures may show.
The crisis in Europe and looming deadline on U.S. budget talks may be prompting companies to hold back on concern failure to reach resolutions will put the global recovery at risk. Fed policy makers project the jobless rate won’t drop under 8 percent until 2013 at the earliest, one reason why Bernanke this week said more stimulus “remains on the table.”
“It’s painfully slow healing,” said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics Inc. in West Chester, Pennsylvania. “The outlook really hinges on improvement in hiring to support faster consumer spending. The odds favor another round of monetary easing.”
The Labor Department’s report is due at 8:30 a.m. in Washington. Bloomberg survey estimates ranged from increases of 50,000 to 150,000.
Estimates in the Bloomberg survey for the unemployment rate ranged from 8.9 percent to 9.2 percent.
